Gravel Road Musings

Heart of Alaska Book Two Curry, Alaska, a town that is no more today, deep, overgrown grass covers the site, but a town that is the base of the series, Heart of Alaska. While in some ways this is another of those chick flicks, as I like to call them, where the girl always gets the guy of her dreams, this one is much deeper. For one, I like how it is based in truth. There was a town of Curry, there was a Druze Revolt in Syria and so while the characters and actions are fiction, the authors did their research to make the story as true to life as possible. This book has a lot of hurt in it. The girl didn't just get the guy easy, peasy. She was first forced to marry a cruel man, a Senator no less, but cruel behind closed doors. Abused both physically and verbally, Katherine is beaten down in the three years she is married to him. Then he dies, but his words linger in her head and she believes she is no good. Her grandmother is determined to pull her out of this and a dark cave ...

Illustrated by Gobi Murphy Remember the Raggedy Ann and Andy stories? This book was written by that author's great-great-grand niece. Obviously the ability to write a good story is hereditary!! :) :) This is a lovely little rhyming board book in a padded hardcover about 8x8 in size, I would guess. It takes a group of animals from starting to get ready for bed until they are ready to sleep. I believe each page except the last two have a different animal on them. There is only one star in the sky when they start to get ready for bed and when they are tucked in and ready to sleep, there are ten. It is all rhyming and each rhyme leads into the next number. The illustrations are very nicely done as well. The animals are not real to life, but you can tell what they are. The colors are bright and bold and each bedroom has different decor and colors. The illustrations match the story line of that page. This would be a great book for learning to count with as it has a nice little ...

How to overcome the fears of today and renew your hope for the future The God of Tomorrow Principle: "Since tomorrow belongs to God, we can graciously offer hope to people today." I wasn't sure of the book when I saw it and then I saw the author, Caleb Kaltenbach. I read his other book, Messy Grace , about growing up with two homosexual parents and his journey to God and lessons on relating to the LGBTQ community. It was such a good read, I knew I wanted to read this book. It did not disappoint. His God of Tomorrow Principle shines through the whole book: we have a God who is unchanging, we have a God who loves us, we have a God who is in charge--therefore we have hope and we have a hope that we can offer to those who are fearing tomorrow. But we don't do this blindly. We stay up to date on society, we become aware of the culture around us so we can offer this counter-cultural Gospel in a way that is appealing and relevant. We accept our neighbors. We don...

Illustrated by Corinna Ice This is an adorable little board book.  It has 9 pages and is about the size of an 8x8 book. It's the story of loving and being kind and it gets its message across. I read it to my almost three year old and when I finished, I asked her what the book was about. "Wuv" she said. "Score" I thought. It's all rhyming which gives books huge brownie points. I could wish all children's books were rhyming books, but I know that's not really realistic. It points out that while a red heart is the universal sign of love, that we can send that same message by what we say and do. For example, "When I see someone sitting who might be rather shy, I'll smile to help him feel good and wave a friendly 'Hi!'". It also points out that we should show love and kindness all year round, it's not just reserved for Valentine's Day. And finally, the book points out that we can feel God's love inside us when we ...

with Craig Borlase A Muslim refugee's story of harrowing escape, miraculous rescue, and the quiet call of Jesus This is an amazing, hold on to the edge of your seat story. Married, a mother, and widowed by 20 years old, Annahita remarries a cruel, brutal man. Then they are on the run for their lives, out of Iran, into Turkey, and on to Denmark. She finally leaves her second husband. At some point in this story, she is given a Bible which she keeps hidden, but will get out to hold and kiss. She will whisper desperate prayers, but isn't sure what she is asking or who she is praying to. She has a true encounter with Jesus and her life is changed. I don't want to give away much more of the story, but it's amazing the way that God protected her and kept her. He didn't give her a pain free life, even after her escape from Iran and then from her abusive husband, but she has continued to trust Him and is now instrumental in leading other Muslims to Jesus. She has l...

My posts may seem a bit on the morbid side right now, but it is the life we live in. Another of D's cousins passed on to glory yesterday and it leaves those of us behind pondering a bit. She left behind a husband and six children, the youngest just a bit older than Logan. That strikes home close. So we recite that verse: "Oh death where is thy sting, O grave where is thy victory?" And while there's a cynical side of me that say, "Oh there is a sting all right, in reality, for the child of God there isn't. Death is swallowed up in victory. We, who are Christians, know where we're going. We know heaven is waiting. And while there is most assuredly a stinging grief for those left behind, we can have the victor in knowing we will see our loved ones again someday. Now, I will be the first to admit that this can be a stinging cliche to the family. Death feels so final right now, but..... "There is coming a day when no heartache shall rise, no more clou...

 Julie Klassen is becoming one of my favorite authors. It's not that she writes super inspiring, challenging books, but she writes big fat books about the 1800's or so. These books are not filled with romance and gibberish and they are not all about wealthy people having everything and wanting more. In fact, the few books of hers that I have read are more the opposite. The wealthy have become poor. Yes, there is romance in them, but it seems to me to be a bit more on the mature side, a well thought through plot. This book is no exception. It's the second in the Tales from Ivy Hill Series and just as good as I remember the first one to be. My biggest complaint with reviewing books is I get the series so spread out that I forget what the first one was all about by the time the next one comes out. I know, it's such a hard problem to have!! The main characters in the story are three ladies who are friends making a living in an era where the well-to-do would have looked ...

Shepherding your sons to be men of God Foreward by Josh McDowell Let me start by quoting from the last page of the book: "Our parenting efforts must be laden and saturated by our heartfelt prayers. These prayers for the conversion, sanctification, maturity, wisdom, and fruitfulness of our children will undoubtedly rise to God as requests near and dear to His heart. Ask in faith and work in wisdom." That right there is key to all parenting efforts: laden and saturated with prayer.  How else can we hope to achieve success in raising faithful Christian men and women? While this book focused solely on raising men, I think there were quite a few principles that could be applied to raising ladies as well. Obviously there are some key differences as well.  Mike has some very excellent points on raising boys, the key one being, to me at least, saturate them in the Word of God. Have them read their Bible, make them a prayer list, take them to church, put them in positions of...

Can or should the tough stuff be savored? What advantage does it give you, if any? I don't have all the answers and never will, but I can share what I think it can do for me. Four years: it's amazing to me how some of those memories are still so stark and real in my mind as I look back. I can remember very well what I was doing four years ago today. It was a Saturday and it was D's Christmas party at work. It was a very nice meal with lots of Amish in attendance, but also a few good friends. After lunch, the guys went to shoot clay pigeons and the girls played games. A few of us girls had decided we needed a bathroom run and had come back to our place where all of the girls were to kind and gracious to mention that a certain article of clothing had been left behind in the bathroom on the floor. Doesn't your brain remember the funniest things? Hanging up was a new dress that I was planning to wear the next day at church, a maternity dress, so while I like new dresses...

Number four in the Montana Rescue series and definitely a chick flick. I read Susan's Christiansen family series and those were really good and I guess I'm expecting all her books to be on that level.  Through probably if I'm honest, they were just good chick flicks too, but they felt a bit deeper than that. So yes, this is one of the books where the guy is a millionaire and likes the girl who is losing her house, but he's stubborn and bulldoggish and has to have things his way.  Of course, there is a big calamity and of course everything works out okay in the end. However, and this is the important part that we all need to hear, Ian-the millionaire, did have to recognize his need of God, his need of Someone bigger to control his life. He needed to surrender to be okay not doing things his way, to recognize that he was not in control.  That is the piece that is good, the piece that we all need to hang on to. I received this book from Revell Publishing and was no...

We had a really good message on Sunday. Now to clarify, we have a lot of really good messages, but this one hit home to me for a few reasons. One, there was a piece in there that reflects how I am trying to live my life and two, our pastor used one of my favorite songs, a song that has reduced me to tears in the last few years. "We have this moment to hold in our hands and to touch as it slips through our fingers like sand. Yesterday's gone and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment today. "Tiny voice that I hear is my little girl calling for her daddy to hear just what she has to say...." That phrase right there would often bring the tears on. I was singing it the other day and Amber wondered why I was singing about her daddy. So the song has bittersweet memories for me anymore. The gist of that section of the message was to savor life.  Enjoy it, drink that cup of coffee, let it warm your hands and your soul.  Ah, I can relate to this and prefer...

With a new year upon me and my determination to live in gratitude, I am reminded again just how blessed I am, even when life feels a little tough. When D works late and the home front feels crumbly because of it, I am blessed. He has a good job and a strong work ethic and he provides well for us. When A refused to take a nap and then falls apart and cries over everything, I am blessed. I have a healthy, normally happy, chatty two year old. (And I am so incredibly blessed on this count.) When L cries because he's been neglected or because his sister is crying, I am blessed. He has a good set of lungs and a normally ready smile, and cute "crying drips" coming off of his face. When the weather outside is very frightfully cold and windy, I am blessed. I have a mostly warm house and a furnace that chugs faithfully away and money in the checkbook to pay the propane. And I get to spend my days inside where it is warm and not out on a loader!! When I get woke up multipl...

"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name is to be praised." Psalm 113:3 Life had some dark moments in the last part of 2017: that feeling that life is overwhelming and unpleasant and nothing is going to get better. You lash out at your favorite people with the slightest real or imagined provocation and then spend the rest of the time apologizing and just trying to be quiet.  So as I pondered that and wondered if this was going to be the new normal, I reread 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp and I knew what I needed: gratitude. So I am determined to make 2018 the year of gratitude, the year of 1000 gifts. I have done this before, the counting of gifts, but it's time to do it again. My notebook is out and there are four things listed already: 1. Bright sunshine reflecting in snow (despite the persistent minus zero degrees) 2. A new year (even better than Mondays) 3. Stillness (both kiddos were sleeping) 4. Dancing to the "Train So...

Chris Fabry is an author whose writings I scarf up every chance I get. He is definitely on my list of top ten authors to read. That poses an interesting thought: who else would I put on my top ten list? Anyway, that's for another time and place. It seems like a lot of Chris' books take place in West Virginia and this one is no different. The story goes back and forth between the year 1933 and 2004. It chronicles the unlikely friendship of two young girls, one the daughter of the mine owner and the other the coal miner's daughter. It's a story of sacrificial love, truly laying one's life down for the sake of a friend. It's a story of forgiveness, forgiving yourself for what you have done. It's a story of learning to love well, the main character's children tended to be a bit over protective, basically in an effort not to inconvenience themselves. It's a story of how the truth can set you free and even set others free. I don't want to say a...